To Private First Class
by thewriterstory
Summary: SERIES!verse one-shot! How did the innocent penguin arrival at the Central Park Zoo feel when he was thrown into a habitat that housed three crazy birds? Private's take on his new team (narrator's perspective). No violence or weird language.


**I honestly don't know where this came from. It may sound a little boring, not much action here :P Wrote this in Dec 14, no idea what to do with this except to publish it. A few seconds ago I realized I could turn this into a series with my other Private centric plot bunnies!**

 **Stay tuned for updates!**

 **Disclaimer: Penguins of Madagascar does not belong to me.**

* * *

Private got out of the HQ and climbed up onto the ice floe, putting in some effort, unlike the three penguins who climbed 'topside' with little effort.

It had been only the third week of his temporary stay at the Central Park Zoo. Agent Nigel said that if he behaved well on his own and obeyed the older penguins, he might consider letting him join their super secret penguin agency, which Private didn't know much about.

The three penguins with whom Private was now staying with had introduced very little about themselves.

"You'll learn more as time passes." Said the shortest and probably the oldest of the three penguins.

From what he knew, that penguin was the leader. He took control of everything in their base, from the chores to their inventions - or rather Kowalski's inventions.

Kowalski was a cool agent, just like Agent Nigel. He made many devices. Private had thus-far been only allowed a peek into his lab. It seemed huge and very full of paper, metals, chemicals and intriguing inventions. Kowalski was very smart. He was also the most caring one out of the group. All of them were caring, in their own silent ways, - Skipper and Rico hardy liked to show emotions in front of Private.

"After a few days of exploring yourself you will find out where each habitat in the zoo is. And if you get lost anywhere, it's not my problem, it's your short term memory's fault. Got it?" Skipper asked, his icy unwavering gaze fixed on the timid young penguin.

Rico and Kowalski were watching from slightly further out of Private's sight. They didn't see the need to interfere with the captain's address yet.

"Yes sir." He replied, his voice shaking with fear since he was new and had barely met the adult a few minutes earlier.

"One more thing - if you want to be part of our team, you can't be as cowardly as this," Skipper gestured to the quivering penguin before him, "You have to be brave, like an adult, like a soldier! Or else, forget about even becoming someone like Nigel." He had stated frankly."

Kowalski stepped forward and put a flipper on Private's shoulder.

"Skipper with all due respect I think we need to show Private around the zoo ourselves. If he gets lost, he could land in one of our… enemies' hands, and we will get into trouble from Nigel. It wouldn't hurt to tell him once, from there on he'll figure everything out. You'd remember all the habitats correctly just as I show you, right Private?" Kowalski looked down and smiled at the shorter penguin.

Skipper sighed. "Alright, Kowalski show him around but don't get into trouble. Come back pronto."

"Yes Skipper." "Yes sir." They replied at the same time.

"Don't spoil the rookie too much Kowalski, he still needs to face the world on his own."

Rico was unique, he was quiet, a penguin of a few words according to Skipper. However he was still smart in a way different from Kowalski. Rico had a lot of background knowledge in weapons, one reason being he stored some inside of him (which was quite disturbing but handy at times).

Rico seemed quite rough at first, looking at his psychotic habits like watching gory TV shows and literally playing with dynamite.

Private still knew that Rico was probably discreetly looking out for him. Once when Private went out to explore the zoo again and Rico was on recon duty, he kept a watchful eye on the little penguin and observed him through his binoculars from a far.

Kowalski had also informed Private about Rico's tendency to be carried away with explosives, but added that he has an "affectionate heart" too.

Private was coming back from visiting their kind neighbor one day. That's when he entered their underground living quarters to see for the first time, the doll that Rico was playing with.

Private shrugged it off, seeing that Rico was entertained by the doll, just as how the new Lunacorns show caught on the television entertained him.

He looked at the other side of the room and saw his captain and lieutenant engaged in an intense round of chess. He was starting to make his way to get a cup and some water when he turned back and looked at Rico again.

The penguin who was just brushing the doll's hair was now dancing with it while watching a cheesy commercial on TV.

Private's lower beak dropped.

"Oh hey Private," Skipper greeted, without looking up from his game at first. That penguin's attitude toward him had gradually become less hostile and more friendly.

"That's just Rico getting all lovey-dovey with his-" Skipper stopped, pausing to realize which innocent fellow he was talking to.

"Rico what did I say about getting lovey with your doll," Rico glared at Skipper, "I mean girlfriend."

"Sowee, I'm going up." Rico said and grunted a few affectionate words to his doll and left the habitat via the ladder.

Private just smiled sheepishly, guilty for causing Rico to leave their quarters. Even though it felt a bit uncomfortable, Private thought it was sweet of Rico to treat his female doll like a real living person. Before this, Private wasn't sure if Rico could actually be gentle or affectionate. Now he knew the answer to his doubt.

As few more weeks past, Private got to train more with the trio, with Skipper the most.

After seeing an improvement in his fighting maneuvers, Nigel allowed Private to stay with the penguins for a longer time - if the trio were willing to agree and let him stay.

Even though Private didn't know about them as much as he knew Nigel, he trusted them. He liked living in their company and going with them on their various escapades outside zoo hours.

He didn't know much about how they met, or what they did before they became agents. Maybe they were on the streets, homeless or abandoned, or they could have been from luxurious/honorable families before they came to this humble zoo.

Whatever it could have been, one thing was sure, their pasts were very different from his. They had clearly faced many ups and downs in their lives, reflected by their thoughts, words and actions.

Private wasn't a good analyst, not even close to Kowalski's level. He was insightful, to say the least.

He knew that his leader had met and worked with many more people in his life. Some his enemies, but others were people he was truly fond of.

During training exercises, Skipper would tell them stories about two mysterious penguins called Manfredi and Johnson, about what chaos they escaped from during missions.

Skipper never talked about people so casually like that, he used a paranoid tone more often than not.

Rico was not very vocal, but his scar spoke volumes. His mohawk added to his personality, leading to Private believing that before his scar and the incident that caused it, Rico wasn't the same penguin he was.

Kowalski rarely dropped clues about his past. However he did mention a dolphin called 'Doris' several times. Private thought about it and deduced that she could be related to him in many many ways - childhood friend, mutual friend, zoo mate, enemy, etc. Maybe she was romantically related to Kowalski. That meant Kowalski wasn't that shy or maybe… some interesting things had happened in his love life.

Whatever it could have been, Private felt so sure about one thing. The entire team had gone through a rough in the past before settling down in Manhattan.

He could tell that they had to be very experienced to give him such deep advice during their stake-outs, recons, trainings and missions.

Maybe they were trying to hide their difficult past from him so as to not trouble him. Or they were trying to forget about their painful beginnings.

Private actually didn't want to assume anything about their pasts. It might not have been that gloomy. They probably don't trust him even after living under the same roof with him for a few months.

That was alright, the young growing penguin would learn, and then earn their trust, so that he can discover their true pasts.

He could even learn a moral or two from their stories, and not make their mistakes again.

One day he might even meet Manfredi and Johnson.

But for now, impressing the team, earning their trust and bonding with them was the number one priority.

* * *

 **Hope you didn't feel like your last 5 minutes were wasted. Please don't flame, but reviews are appreciated. I know the timeline here is haywire but I thought line breaks would be very interruptive. Thank you all for reading!**

 _thewriterstory §_ _25 May 2015_


End file.
